
r 












m 




Glass £'x-5^ 

Book /? sT Z 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/valleyforge01rich 



I D I') P 



?~ 



a- 



Z. ^ 'i>^> c 



Valley Forge 




■ ^^ r: A 



W. H. RICHARDSON 
JERSEY CITY ^ 1903 






K^ 



-u 




Valley Forge. 

By W. H. Richardson. 
Illustrated from photographs by the author. 

HEN the name of Valley Forge is mentioned, the average 
American immediately associates with it the encampment 
of the Continental armv during the terrible winter of 
1777-78, when the hungry and forlorn champions of a 
well-nigh hopeless cause, wasted by wounds, privation 
and disease, were able only to " occup'y a cold, bleak hill, 
and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets." The 
thousands of pilgrims who now visit that historic shrine, Washington's 
headquarters at Vallev Forge, wander through its rooms and halls and think 
ot the great commander-in-chief as he wrestled with problems that would 
have appalled ordinary men ; of the malign conspiracy he had to confront 
and confound ; of the misery and wretchedness among his suffering soldiers 
which he had to contemplate, the pitv of which he acknowledges from 
his soul, but which he has no power to relieve nor prevent ; and of the 
almost superhuman strength and courage which he there displayed in 
keeping alive through the long, weary months the feeble spark of a thing 
called the American Revolution, eventually fanning it into a flame that has 
burned with increasing brilliancy to our own day. 

Nestling among the trees near the point at which the Valley Creek 
joins the Schuvlkill is the ancient pointed-stone house of miller Isaac Potts, 
the structure which all America cherishes to-day as the home of Wash- 
ington for the half year that the army was encamped in that country. In 
it he faced the crises of the winter and spring with about as much to 
brighten and lighten his life as his men had. "Three days successively 
we have been destitute of bread, two days we have been entirely without 
meat ; " " our sick naked, our well naked, our unfortunate men in cap- 
tivity naked ; " " the unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything ; 
they had neither coats, hats, shirts nor shoes ; their feet and legs froze till 
they became black, and it was often necessary to amputate them ;" — 
these are but a few of the horrible pictures which met the view of the 
commander-in-chief whichever way he turned. And all this was almost 



4 VALLEY FORGE 

within sound of the revelry of the warmly housed and well fed British 
soldiers in Philadelphia. 

Even a casual reading of the history of the Pennsylvania campaign 
leading up to Valley Forge in the fall of 1777 cannot fail to impress one 
with the supreme optimism of the American leader. Surely it was no 
pleasant retrospect to look back over the battlefields of the past four 
months ; and yet in the orderly book there is an entry dated December 
I 7th, two days before the formal occupation of Valley Forge, in which 
the army is reminded that although, in some instances, there were failures, 




THE SCHUYLKILL RIVER NEAR VALLEY FORGE 



*' yet upon the whole. Heaven hath smiled upon our arms and crowned 
them with signal success." Howe landed, it will be recalled, on August 
25th, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, with 18,000 men and a determina- 
tion to take the rebel capital. The first serious collision of the hostile 
armies occurred at Chad's Ford, on September i ith. A bit of careless- 
ness in scouting and a piece of blundering reporting changed the fortunes 
of the day from what would have been a victory into a retreat. More 
than one thousand men were subtracted from the fighting force of the 
patriots, and Howe occcupied the American camps on the night of the battle 



VALLEY FORGE 5 

of Brandywine. Yet Washington took occasion to report to the President 
of Congress that •' the troops were in good spirits." Nine days later a 
division under General Wayne was attacked by General Grey, and what 
is popularly, but altogether inappropriately, termed the Paoli massacre, 
with its I 50 casualties, was the result. 

Then came the battle of Germantown, on October 4th. How 
much the bitterness of that defeat must have been emphasized at the time 
may be gathered from one of .those pretty letters General Wayne used to 
write to his "Dear Pollv." The action, in his judgment, would have 
put an end to the war, had not the smoke and confusion prevented the 




THE INTRENCHMENTS 



following up of a victory actually won at one phase of the operation. 
" The commander-in-chief returns his thanks to the general and other 
officers and men concerned in the attack," and sees, notwithstanding the 
disaster, "that the enemy is not proof against a vigorous attack, and may 
be put to flight when boldly pursued." Germantown had cost nearly 
1,200 of the 8,000 men engaged ; and the weary, wretched and ragged 
soldiers — for troubles with the commissary had now started — sat down 
that night on the old camp-ground at Pennypacker's Mills to catch their 
breath, while the officers began to plan for another set-to with a victorious 
but vulnerable antagonist. 



6 VALLEY FORGE 

On September 26th the British advance had entered and taken pos- 
session of Philadelphia ; and safe within that hospitable city they success- 
fully resisted all attempts to lure them out or dislodge them. For nearly 
six weeks, from November 2d to December iith, the Americans were 
strongly intrenched at Whitemarsh, thirteen miles northwest of the city. 
Their gradually weakening line was too thin, however, to give battle to the 
British, and too near Philadelphia to feel absolutely safe from attack ; so 




THE INTRENCHMENTS 



it was decided to move to a more advantageous location, from which the 
invaders could at least be watched and kept in check. The story ot the 
march to Valley Forge is another chapter in the epic of that frightful 
winter. Various participants have contributed their testimony about the 
dismal conditions under which the journey was prosecuted. A Pennsyl- 
vania lieutenant notes in his diary that they started to cross the Schuylkill 
at Swede's Ford, not over 800 feet wide at that point, at six o'clock 



VALLEY FORGE 




in the evening of December 
I 2th, and it was three o'clock 
the next morning before they 
reached camp at Gulf Mill, 
two miles further along, 
" where we remained without 
tents or blankets in the midst 
of a severe snowstorm." A 
Connecticut warrior portrays 
his, misery at the same place 
in this suggestive style : "We 
are ordered to march over the 
river. It snows — I'm sick — 
eat nothing — no whiskey — 
no baggage — Lord — Lord — 
Lord — till sunrise crossing the 
river — cold and uncomfort- 
able." After the army had 
been four days in camp, the 
tents came and were pitched 
for the first time, " to keep 
the men more comfortable." 
How appropriate, then, the 
day of thanksgiving and prayer 
that Congress had ordered for 
the eighteenth ! 

When the army arrived at 
Vallev Forge on the nine- 
teenth, the campaign for the 
year had practically closed ; 
General Howe had taken 
Philadelphia — or, as Franklin 
put it, Philadelphia had taken 
General Howe ; the Ameri- 
cans were huddled around 
their camp fires twenty-two 
miles away, freezing, starv- 
ing, wasting from disease ; 
but still the characteristic 
cheerfulness of Washington 
shines forth : he remembers 
that a French ship has arrived 



8 VALLEY FORGE 

at Portsmouth with a large quantity ot munitions of war, and he extends 
his congratulations to the army upon the auspicious event. 

But the saddest feature of the months of suffering that followed was 
the fact that most of it was unnecessary. We are told that, at the very- 
time the barefooted Continentals were making bloody tracks in the snow 
on the bleak hills of Valley Forge, there were hogsheads of shoes — some- 
where else. In answer to General Wayne's fervid appeal for clothing 
for his frost-bitten soldiers came the reply — which might be counted 
almost humorous but for the ghastly picture of his men clutching shreds 




LOOKING EAST FROM FORT HUNTINGTON 



of old blankets over their nakedness — that the delay in furnishing it was 
" due to the want of buttons." 

Fortunately, there is something else than tragedy to be read in the 
records of those days. The old orderly books, for example, tell us a 
great deal that has a different sort of flavor. Here is an account of a 
court martial held to consider the case of a Virginia captain who was 
charged with having been *' so far Ellivated with liquor when on the 
parade for Exercising as rendered him imCapable in doing his duty with 
precission." Luckily the good captain was able to prove an alibi, or 
that something else was responsible for his " Ellivation " — for his acquittal 



VALLEY FORGE 9 

is duly noted. Then there was a Pennsylvania lieutenant tried for 
"unofficer and ungentlemanlike behavior in taking 2 mares and a barrel 
of carpenter's tools on the line, which mares he conveyed away, and sold 
the tools at private sale." The chronicler does not give a detailed account 
of the testimony; but it is written that the court found that while the 
lieutenant was "guilty of the facts alledged" in the charge, yet they did 
not amount to " unofficer and ungentlemanlike behavior, and so acquit 
him of it." There is something so delightfully vague about the verdict 
that we are led to wonder how far an officer and gentleman at Valley 
Forge might have gone in the business ot picking up and disposing of stray 
mares and barrels of carpenter's tools before crossing the borders ot propriety. 




LOOKING SOUTH FROM FORT HUNTINGTON SHOWING MOUNT JOY 



It was while the army was at Valley Forge, too, that sweeping 
reforms in its organization were inaugurated. Early in the spring, Fred- 
erick William Augustus, Baron von, Steuben, arrived there, and started 
upon his duties as inspector-general. "The arms at Valley Forge," he 
wrote, " were in a horrible condition, covered with rust, half ot them 
without bayonets, many from which a single shot could not be fired. 1 he 
pouches were quite as bad as the arms. A great many of the men had 
tin boxes instead of pouches ; others had cow-horns ; and muskets, car- 
bines, fowling-pieces and rifles were to be seen in the same company. 
The description of the dress is most easily given. The men were literally 



lo VALLEY FORGE 

naked, some of them in the fullest extent of the word. The officers who 
had coats had them of every color and make. I saw officers at a grand 
parade at Valley Forge mounting guard in a sort of dressing-gown, made 
of an old blanket or a woollen bed-cover. With regard to their military 
discipline, I may safely say no such thing existed." 

Von Steuben, from all accounts, was a man who would rather fight 
and work than eat or sleep ; and so, perhaps, it is not surprising that he 
fashioned so wonderful a weapon from the woefully raw and rough 
material he had to deal with. Rising at three o'clock in the morning, he 
would be on parade at sunrise, take a musket in his own hands, and 




1 ,^Vi-. I'l h'.S HI-.ADiU AR I l.R.s 



show the picked squad just how the thing was to be done. In a few 
weeks of that sort of personal effort he had the whole camp fired with 
his own enthusiasm, so that the men with whom he began were able to 
execute the most difficult movements with the greatest precision. The 
petty jealousies, the sectional feeling of the various contingents were for- 
gotten, and all seemed to be animated by a nobler rivalry that boded a 
different outlook for the cause. A little later we see that regenerated army 
not only sturdy enough to withstand the fiercest onslaughts of British 
guards and grenadiers, but capable also to beat them at their own favorite 
business of the bayonet charge. 



VALLEY FORGE ii 

The house in which Baron von Steuben lived while at Valley P'orge 
is still standing. A mile or so southeast of it is the house that was the 
military home of General Wayne, the dashing officer who made much of 
the honest work done by the Prussian drill-master. It was the bravery 
and discipline of the troops under "Mad Anthonv" at Monmouth 
which gave lustre to the American arms and set him in the hearts of his 
countrymen as a •♦modern Leonidas." 

In striking contrast with the sombre coloring which the name of 
Valley Forge suggests was the brilliant sortie of a party of 2,500 men 
under La Fayette, on May i8th, 1778. For the general purpose of 



•S ' --'1 ^ 
2^ S'^^'^^'-jH, 




GENERAL MUHLENBERG'S HEADQUARTERS 



gathering information about the British, the youthful Frenchman was 
directed to proceed toward the hostile lines at Philadelphia. Early on the 
morning of that day his command arrived at Barren Hill, on the east side 
of the Schuylkill, some eight or nine miles from the city. From that 
point the wings were extended to cover other highways, and scouting 
parties sent into Philadelphia, one of them giving the revellers at the 
Mischianza a terrible scare. Another object of the demonstration was to 
develop the strength of the enemy ; and in this it was highly successful, 
for an overwhelming force set out from Philadelphia to surround the 
American division and carry La Fayette back to the city, where a dinner 
party awaited his coming. The details of the operations around Barren 



VALLEY FORGE 



Hill church and its ancient burying-ground, the failure of the carefully 
laid plans of the British, the withdrawal of the American command from 
an exceedingly perilous position to a safe place on the opposite side of the 




HEADOUARTERS OF GENERALS VARNUM AND DeKALB 

Schuylkill, combine to make one ot the most spirited chapters in the nar- 
rative of Valley Forge. 

Of course, it should not be forgotten that the news of the French 
alliance reached the armv at Valley Forge ; and from that glad first of 
May, when Washington announced it, the local literature seems to have 




GENERAL KNOX'S HEADQUARTERS 



VALLEY FORGE 



13 



taken on a sprightliness it did not possess before. The orderly book from 
that time fairly rings with directions for grand parades, general rejoicings, 
manoeuvres before members of the "grand" congress; and divine 
services are not forgotten. There are councils of war and speculations as 
to the probable course of the evidently uncomfortable enemy. As early 
as May 23d it was known that the evacuation of Philadelphia had been 
decided upon. Soon the news came that transports in the Delaware were 
being loaded with baggage and stores. Then the rumors of the coming 




ROOM IN WASHINGTON'S HEADC^UARTERS 
(Restored and furnished by Valley Forge Chapter, D. A. R. ^ 



of D'Estaing's fleet decided for the British that the walking to New York 
would probably be safer than the sailjng. On the eighteenth of June the 
first divisions of the Continental army left Valley Forge and occupied 
Philadelphia, taking possession of the city only a few hours after its former 
guests were gone. The next day the mass of the army — no longer the 
disorganized conglomeration of colonial troops, but a thoroughly welded, 
homogeneous American army — was making all possible haste after the 
retiring Sir Henry Clinton, his 17,000 troops and twelve mile supply 
train. 



14 VALLEY FORGE 

From a military point of view the selection of Valley Forge for the 
encampment was a most admirable one. Two of its boundaries, the west 
and north, were deep streams, whose passages were easily defended, while 
the approaches from the east and south were absolutely dominated by the 
heights which rose in the angle of these water courses. A brief description 
of the topography ot the country will put the reader more closely in touch 
with the subject. 

Imagine the Vallev Creek flowing due north between precipitous hills 
for nearly a mile before it reaches the Schuylkill River. Mount Joy, the 
highest summit on the east bank, is fully a mile from the river, and it lifts 
its wooded crest 426 feet above the sea level. A little further to the north 
is another hill, which is really a sort of spur of Mount }oy, 350 feet 
high ; while still further off to the northeast is a third hill, with its summit 
something more than 100 feet below that of Mount Joy. On the eastern 
descent of these hills the citizens of that long departed community have 
left the indelible record of their occupation. Mount Joy and her two 
sisters are still the proud wearers of their grass-grown chaplets, lines of 
earthworks, 1,600 feet, 300 feet and 1,300 feet long, thrown up near 
the crests of the three bv the toilers in the youth of our nation. Below 
these works are still to be seen Fort Huntington, protecting the north end of 
the lines and dominating the river road, a highway paralleling the Schuylkill 
all the way into Philadelphia, and the deeper and better preserved Fort 
Washington at the south end of the lines on Mount Joy commanding the 
approach from the south and west. 

Further down, the hills break gently into an undulating landscape, 
upon which most of the brigades were encamped. At the south end of 
Mount Joy, beyond Fort Washington, were General Woodford's Virginia 
troops. North of Fort Washington, and on the same hill, were General 
Maxwell's New Jerseymen and General Knox's artillery. In the cove 
or hollow in front of the shoulder of Mount Joy were the Pennsylvania 
troops commanded by General Conway — the same Conway who is 
remembered in history solely for his connection with the infamous cabal 
against Washington. Then, next to the River road, near to the fort 
which bears his name, General Jedediah Huntington's Connecticut troops 
were encamped. 

Still further down the slope, and lying back of the outer line of 
intrenchments — now entirely disappeared — beginning at the south and 
running in a curved line to the northeast, were the encampments of 
General Scott's Virginians, General Wayne's First and Second Pennsyl- 
vanians. General Poor's New Yorkers, General Glover's Massachusetts 
troops. General Learned's New Hampshire men. General Patterson's 
Vermonters, General Weedon's Virginians and General Muhlenberg 



VALLEY FORGE 



IS 




< 

o< 

Q 
< 

X 



i6 VALLEY FORGE 

with his Pennsvlvanians and Virginians on the extreme left. The loca- 
tions of these thirteen brigades can be better comprehended by imagining 
a pair of gigantic compasses extended to sixty degrees, with the head to 
the south. One leg laid to the north along the three hills would roughly 
cover the inner line of four brigades first mentioned ; the other leg extended 
to the northeast would cover the outer line of nine brigades last named. 
Upon the River road, upon which the points would rest, were General 
Varnum's Rhode Islanders and a battery known as Fort Piatt or the Star 
redoubt. A well defined knoll in a field about two hundred yards east of 
the building in which General Varnum had his headquarters marks the site 
of this fortification, which was built to command the approach to Sulli- 
van's bridge. This was a temporary structure thrown across the Schuyl- 
kill about a quarter of a mile northeast of the fort. 

The sites of the huts occupied by some of the officers can also be 
readily traced in the thicket about a quarter of a mile east of the star 
redoubt. When these structures were erected the earth was banked up 
around the logs as an additional protection from the biting cold, and in the 
remains to-day the regularity of the plan of this diminutive village is quite 
apparent. Just across the river road at this point the ground slopes sharply 
to the south. Close to the foot of the declivity \^a large sycamore standing 
alone. Near it is the grave of John Waterman, one of the many heroes 
from Rhode Island who never went home from the war. A substantial 
wire cage now entirely covers the grave — not for the purpose of keeping 
John Waterman in, as some irreverent visitor has remarked, but for keeping 
vandals out. It is rather difficult to understand how relic hunters who 
came before the cage ever managed to leave as much as they did of this 
lonely monument. At this point, also, the Daughters of the Revolutir i 
have erected a stately granite monument, which was dedicated October 
19, 1 90 1, in the presence of a distinguished company, as "the first 
memorial to the heroic dead of Valley Forge." 

The location of the various brigades, etc., as. just given, is based upon 
the investigations of Jared Sparks, who, in illustrating the letters of Wash- 
ington in the early part of the last century, had a map prepared under the 
auspices of John Armstrong, then secretary of war. An old man named 
Davis gave his recollection of the various dispositions of the different 
encampments, and his information helped to plot the map. It is a curious 
fact that no contemporary map of the whole camp was known to be in 
existence until 1897, when that indefatigable antiquarian, Hon. S. W. 
Pennypacker, secured from Amsterdam a set of original drafts and plans of 
the Revolutionary period, drawn by a French engineer with the army. 
Among them was a priceless map of Valley Forge. This map exhibits 
slight deviations from the arrangement already quoted, and has less detail ; 



VALLEY FORGE 



17 



but apart from its inestimable value as a unique historical document, it tells 
what was not known before, that Lord Stirling's brigade of Carolina troops 
was encamped on the west bank of Valley Creek, opposite general head- 
quarters, at the spot that has hitherto been allotted to the artificers ; and 
further it reveals the fact that Washington's headquarters before he occupied 
the Potts' house were not, as has been alleged, in a marquee, but in a house 
some distance southeast of Vallev Forge. 

Valley Forge takes its name from an iron-working plant established 
there many years before the militant Americans made it famous. The 
musty records of the past tell us that in 175.7 one John Potts purchased 




HEADQUARTERS OF GENERALS STEUBEN AND UiiuKi^iL 



property which included what was then known as Mount Joy forge. This 
stood on the banks of Valley Creek, the fall of that stream as it passed on 
down to the Schuylkill through 'the narrow gorge between the high hills 
on either hand furnishing an abundance of power. The business ot 
Mount Joy forge — or the VaLey forge, as it soon came to be known 
locally — was a very flourishing one ; a great many men and teams were 
employed in making and marketing its products. Ironmaster John Potts 
saw that a flour mill which could furnish feed for the horses and flour for 
the drivers would be a profitable adjunct to the older industry on the 



i8 



VALLEY FORGE 



creek ; and in' 1758 this was built — and it lasted until 1843, when it was 
destroyed by fire ; later it was rebuilt a little further up the stream, almost 
opposite the present headquarters building, and after serving as a paper 
mill for many vears it was finally dismantled and is now tailing into decay. 
About the same year that John Potts built the flour mill the famous 
mansion was also erected. In 1768 both the mill and house came into 
the possession ot his son Isaac, and the forge went to another son, Joseph. 
One of the earliest historical references to this mill appears in a letter from 
Richard Peters, secretary of war, to Thomas Wharton, president of the 




LORD STIRLING'S HEADC^UARTERS 



Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He wrote on August 30, 1777, 
about *' a large quantity of flour spoiling for want of baking ; it lies at 
Valley Forge." If Isaac Potts had been a modern advertiser, he would 
doubtless have claimed that it was the taste of that flour ot his which later 
secured for him the exclusive trade of a great galaxy of public men and the 
entire American army for six months. That illustrious housekeeper, 
Martha Washington must have eaten bread, perhaps prepared by her own 
hands, made from this same flour ot Isaac Potts' mill. How could a 



VALLEY FORGE 19 

miller ever let such an opportunity tor getting a tdstimonial about it trom 
so preeminent an authority as the General's wife slip by him ! 

While dealing with Isaac Potts it will be proper to refer to an incident 
in which he is involved and which has been repeatedly embalmed in verse 
and gaily colored lithographs. Everybody has heard how Washington was 
discovered at prayer in the woods above the headquarters, pleading with 
the Almighty for guidance through the troublous times which then beset 
his country. The discovery is said to have been made by " a good old 
Quaker," sometimes referred to as a blacksmith ; but a manuscript in the 
hand of his daughter informs us that the " good old Quaker" who viewed 
the remarkable spectacle was twenty-seven-year-old Isaac Potts. After 
the death of Washington he pronounced a eulogy on his character in 
Friends' meeting, that was a masterly production, a member of Congress 
declaring that he would not go to hear "Light Horse Harry" Lee's 
address in the Lutheran Church in Philadelphia because he had just heard 
" a much better one than he will deliver, from an old Quaker." 

A few years since the headquarters building was restored to its con- 
dition of nearly a century and a quarter ago. '• The General's apartments 
is very small," wrote Mrs. Washington from there; "he has had a 
log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable 
than they were at first." The log dining-room has been rebuilt, and the 
whole house, with its sacred memories, has been given over to the 
perpetuation of " the times which tried men's souls." A subterranean 
passageway which once led to the river's edge has been freshly vaulted for 
a long distance ; one room of the house is adorned with a chronological 
portraiture ot Washington ; others contain many interesting pictures, 
pieces of furniture and other relics of the Colonial and Revolutionary eras. 
Externally the substantial and comfortable look about the building is very 
impressive, its simple yet dignified proportions- appealing at once to the 
good taste of everv visitor. The curious porch over the front door, the 
exquisite hand-made moulding and other details of its architecture are of a 
character seldom seen in any structure of this generation. 

It is to the lasting credit of those who have done so much toward 
the preservation of this hallowed ground and its landmarks that Americanism 
as a principle is splendidly taught and that the spirit of nationality, which 
was born at Valley Forge, is vso forcibly impressed upon the mind or 
every visitor. Of all historic shrines, none is so valuable an asset in our 
commonwealth as these few consecrated acres amidst the hills of south- 
eastern Pennsylvania. 



VALLEY FORGE 




^■■^^mW^M 


^^^^^V^'''^^^ 




^^^^^p: .1^ 




^^m^' 


' ■'*^' ;^->>'>i: ''\: •1»*v- 


^P^^^ 


^'^^^' '■■' .:- 


■^' 
1--'^ 




, . -• -" 


.ir^jirt''^'^'*'*'^- 




\ ...^iMK. 



SITE OF THE OLD EOROE. VALLEY CREEK. 




St-'. IT ? . 



i_.^-". 







ON VALLEY CREEK. 




MAIN DCORWAY, WAv'^HINGTON HRADOUART RRS. 








TME RIVER ROAD— (Vallev Forge lies in the hoi 
low lo the rioht. ) 



.^^3F^ 




GENERAL WAYNE HEADQUARTERS. 



















us 
f-fl 










. 




r 


»^ 


1 


1 


K 


mAi 


M 


H 


H 


H| 


[PIF 


H 


f • H 


7_ 


__'"^ 


--,.-'.«.!; -j 


■H 



.M(JM'.\li:.\'r l-RKCTl'l) UY THE DAUGHTERS 
OE THE REVOLUTION. 




?Atsll^w^ 



